Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

April, 2812

Mark sighs as he tries to rub the tiredness out of his eyes. The report in front of him has a grand total of three words written, and the cursor has been blinking at him with insults for the past who knows how many minutes.

This is fine , Mark tells himself, trying to will his limbs back into motion. They don’t even move, like the betrayers that they are.

Mark sighs again for the millionth time that day, dropping his head on his desk and groaning loudly. Nearly seven months in, and he’s still as busy as ever. Sure, the others have begun to take up some of his workload and just having Jeno deal with Dream’s love for collateral damage has eased up at least three wrinkles on his forehead, but the remaining hundred or so seem dead set on becoming a permanent fixture on Mark’s face.

With great effort, Mark turns his head to the side, gazing at the photos on his desk with tired eyes. Between his checklist, sticky notes, and a calendar filled to the brim with notes and scribbles are two photos of 127. Taeyong had dropped them off last month on his visit to Dream’s facilities and to check on Shanghai’s state.

Actually, Taeyong had dropped Mark a whole bunch of stuff, from the new bow he had to send in advance to a massive photobook full of a bunch of memories, some old, some new. He said he wanted to make sure Mark would keep his old friends in his thoughts, probably not realizing that Mark hasn’t stopped thinking about them since he boarded the flight to Shanghai.

The first one is beyond blurry, the camera shake nearly blurring everyones’ features beyond recognizability, but the memory itself is vivid enough on Mark’s mind anyway. Jungwoo is holding him in a chokehold, drunk and shouting the lyrics to some IU song. Doyoung is sleeping on his lap, surprisingly lightweight compared to the rest of 127 as he had passed out somewhere in between the second or third bottle of soju.

He can faintly make out Jaehyun, Yuta, and Johnny engaged in some stupid arguement about the proper way to get wasted, while Taeil tries to console them on the side. Taeyong is behind the camera, but judging by the camera shake he was probably barely standing up straight at that point.

Mark can’t help but smile to himself, recounting the memory. They had just come back from a successful group mission, buzzing with ecstasy. Mark genuinely thought they were invincible at that point, able to beat whatever came at them. Sure, the city wasn’t 100% free of crime (that was, frankly, impossible), but Mark just couldn’t imagine a future in which 127 would ever fail at something being thrown their way.

Honestly, that was probably why he had been convinced enough to take on Dream as a project. Taeil and Taeyong just looked so… sure that this would work, and they had full confidence in Mark when he didn’t believe in himself. Everything he does at this point is just an attempt to make sure he doesn’t ruin their hard work. Dream isn’t just an agency project or an extended mission. It’s a chance for Mark to give back a fraction of what the others have given him.

The second photo on his desk is significantly clearer, probably because Taeyong wasn’t about to fall asleep standing up. Mark doesn’t have a memory with this one, as it’s from after the move. Taeyong’s taking the photo selfie style with the others behind him, all smiling and posing for the camera. He can spot Doyoung and Jungwoo wrestling each other in the background, probably fighting for a good angle. Taeil’s climbed on Johnny’s back grinning as he waves a peace sign at the camera. Jaehyun and Yuta are probably the most normal looking posers out of the bunch, although Mark can spot them trying to push each other out of the frame with one hand.

God, they’re just a bunch of children.

Mark misses them so much.

The fact of the matter is, no matter how much he loves Dream and no matter how much he’s settled into Shanghai, it simply just isn’t… home .

Home is the tiny single bed back on 127’s airship, where Mark is plagued by Jungwoo’s lack of regard for knocking, even though he doesn’t really mind it. Home is the training center Mark’s sunk his blood. sweat, and tears into, where Johnny or Yuta will find him when it’s way past dark and hand him a bottle of water and a pat on the back. Home is the rowdy living room that never lets Mark sleep past 9, despite living at least three rooms, a hallway, and an entire floor away from it.

And to say Mark misses it all would be the greatest understatement of the century.

“Hyung?” Jisung’s voice interrupts Mark’s train of thought, pulling him out of his pool of homesickness. Mark blinks, pulled back to reality as he turns around. Jisung is hanging halfway through the door, his holopad in hand and presumably a report on his lips.

Jisung purses his lips, scanning Mark from afar. Mark realizes he’s still lying on the desk with slightly wet cheeks, and immediately sits up and wipes at his eyes. Clearing his throat, Mark tries for a warm smile.

“Jisung!” he greets. “What’s up?”

Jisung hesitates. “You… you good, hyung?” 

Mark nods, probably a little too quickly. “I’m fine,” he says, waving him off. “Anyways, did you need anything?”

Jisung gives him a cautious look, but ultimately concedes.

“I finished that report you wanted me to do,” Jisung walks towards Mark while tapping away on his holopad. He pulls up a document on his holopad, sliding it across the room towards Mark’s own holopad. A notification lights up behind Mark as he gives Jisung a smile.

“Thanks a million, Jisung,” he grins. “Maybe I’ll finally get to sleep before 1 AM today, huh?”

Jisung snorts. “We both know you always conk out at 3AM, no matter how much we try.”

Mark shrugs. “These are busy times, what can I say?”

“It’s been seven months, hyung,” Jisung gives him an unimpressed look. “And you have six teammates ready to help you out, you know—”

Mark sighs, cutting Jisung off. He’s heard this part. They’ve had this conversation a million times.

“I know, Jisung,” Mark hums, ready to wave him off and go back to work. “But this is my job in the team. You guys go out and do all of the butt kicking, and I make sure you have a place to return to. We’re a team, you know. And everyone in the team has their role. This is mine.”

Jisung bites his bottom lip, going silent for a moment. Mark turns his back to him, trying to give Jisung the nicest cold shoulders he can. He knows Jisung means well, just wanting to help Mark, but he really can’t just push all of this work onto them. They’re ex-convicts and mildly battle-hungry kids, not properly trained agency heroes—

“ Are we a team?” Jisung asks, voice small.

Mark freezes, taken aback. He turns around, blinking slowly and tilting his head to the side.

“What do you mean?” Mark asks, trying to hide the slight panic in his tone. He thought he’d gotten this part done. Dream is getting along, aren’t they? Sure, Renjun and Donghyuck’s mortal enemies storyline isn’t going to end anytime soon, but he was under the impression that Dream were—

“Isn’t a team supposed to trust each other?” Jisung presses. “Rely on each other? Fill in the gaps others can’t? Help out one another ?”

Mark recoils slightly, at a loss for words.

“...What are you trying to say, Jisung?” Mark asks, tone wavering. Jisung deflates, giving Mark a look that chills him to the bone. It’s the gaze Doyoung always gave him whenever he showed back up to the airship with one too many bruises. It’s the half-glare Johnny would give him when he finds Mark beating himself up over a failed mission. It’s the look Taeyong would give him whenever he catches Mark trying to sneak back into the training room after hours instead of catching up on sleep.

Disappointment. Pure, utter disappointment, designed to seep into Mark and drown his guts in guilt, even if he has no idea what he did wrong.

“I think you know exactly what I mean,” Jisung says mysteriously, before turning on his heel and leaving Mark behind with nothing but suffocating silence and bone crushing guilt.

“Up already?” Donghyuck asks, snapping Mark awake. He whirls around, nearly spilling his freshly made coffee as he spots Donghyuck leaning against the kitchen door frame. He must be getting ready for his early morning patrol.

Mark purses his lips, not responding. Donghyuck raises an eyebrow.

“You didn’t sleep, did you?” Donghyuck guesses. Mark swallows.

“Don’t tell Jisung. Please,” Mark pleads, and Donghyuck’s expression turns mischievous.

“You know, Taeyong-hyung left his number from his visit,” Donghyuck muses. “I haven’t gotten the chance to call him yet.”

Mark pales in fear, and Donghyuck’s evil smirk instantly melts away for an amused chuckle. Mark scowls at him.

“Don’t joke about that! There’s a life on the line, you know?” Mark scolds. Donghyuck snorts, pushing himself off of the door frame and walking to the coffee machine.

“Please, you and I both know the inhuman amount of coffee you’ve been inhaling lately is going to kill you before hyung can even get here. Even Jaemin ’s getting concerned, and—”

Mark sighs loudly, cutting him off. Donghyuck stops mid sentence, turning to Mark with mild concern, seemingly genuinely worried if he had gone too far.

“Can we just… not do this today?” Mark mumbles, looking away. His vision is slightly blurry, Mark notes, unfocusing every second blink. That can’t be good.

Donghyuck rests a hand on his shoulder. “Only if you go to bed right now,” he says, with a blunt but gentle edge to his tone, as if he wasn’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer. The corner of Mark’s lips twitch.

“It’s 4 AM,” Mark argues. “I’ll have to get up at 6 for my patrol and you know I can sleep like the dead—”

“I’ll take it,” Donghyuck shrugs, as if it was just that simple. Mark turns to him, incredulous.

“I can’t ask that of you,” Mark argues, frowning. Donghyuck scoffs.

“Sure you can. It’s a, what, two hour walk around town? No one’s even up before 8 nowadays, and I’d welcome that over hearing Chenle’s daily arguments with the seagulls,” Donghyuck laughs, sneakily grabbing Mark’s coffee from under his nose. Mark doesn’t even notice it until Donghyuck’s put the cup to his lips and takes a sip. He instantly scowls, recoiling in disgust.

Mark falters for a second. “But… it’s my job, isn’t it?” he points out. “Isn’t it selfish of me to just… dump my responsibilities on you?”

Donghyuck gives him a pointed look. “I offered in the first place,” he counters. “It’s not selfish if it’s done out of my own free will.”

Mark’s starting to run out of arguments. “Four hours is a lot, though,” Mark tries. “Aren’t you gonna get tired halfway through?”

Donghyuck waves him off. “If you can pull off all nighters every week, I can handle an extra two hours. Besides,” Donghyuck holds up his (Mark’s) cup of coffee, shaking it to make a point. “I have the power of battery acid on my side.”

Mark blinks at him. “I am… way too tired to even feel offended,” he decides, kind of thinking out loud. Donghyuck gives him a small smile that seems to contain a million subtexts his brain is too dead to comprehend.

“Then go to bed,” Donghyuck suggests, and Mark knows he’s not getting out of this one. He gives Donghyuck one last look of defeat, something nagging at him from the back of his mind.

Donghyuck’s kind of pretty, isn’t he? Even under the barely there morning sunlight and glaringly bright kitchen light, Donghyuck seems to… glow , in a way. He’s not quite awake yet, eyes hooded and slightly unfocused, although the battery acid coffee seems to be starting to do its magic. He’s kind of adorable. Pretty, but cute, like a little cat Mark just wants to tuck into his arms and snuggle his worries away with.

Absent-mindedly, Mark wondered if Donghyuck rolls out of bed looking this cute every day.

Woah. That… came out of nowhere.

“Hey, Duckie,” Mark begins, catching the faintest of colour start to spread on Donghyuck’s cheeks, disappearing as fast as it came. Must’ve just been a product of his imagination.

“Hm?” Donghyuck hums, a small smile on his lips. He’s got a pretty smile, Mark thinks, often crafty with a bit of mischief, but gentle and soft whenever needed. He’s grown accustomed to it, fond of the smile in the same way cat owners are fond of their cats even when said cats have clearly just destroyed overly expensive curtains.

“Why are you doing this?” Mark asks, trying to sound as undefensive as possible. Donghyuck doesn’t seem fazed, only leaning over to pull Mark into a mini two second hug.

“Because we’re friends,” Donghyuck says simply, burrowing his face into Mark’s shoulder. “And friends help each other out.”

Mark falters, words stuck in his throat as Jisung’s words from earlier come back to him.

Isn’t a team supposed to help each other out?

Before Mark could say something back, Donghyuck’s already let go, turning to leave the kitchen, and Mark is left with more questions than answers.

Thump .

Mark groans, rubbing the back of his head and wincing. He blinks, vision refocusing as a hand stretches out in front of him. Mark chuckles, taking it and pulling himself up, shaking off the loss easily.

“Seven to six,” Jeno says, half teasing. “I’m almost tempted to call it a day.”

Mark scoffs, although he’s smiling. “And let you win just like that? I’m wounded that you think so lowly of my drive, Jeno,” he hums, picking up his bow after it clattered onto the ground during the fall. Jeno has quite the mean judo flip.

Jeno snorts. “If anything, I should be concerned about your drive, hyung,” he points out, and Mark waves off the incoming line. It seems he can’t spend a day without hearing someone try to bring it up.

“I’m fine , Jeno,” Mark says, rolling his eyes. Jeno gives him a single skeptical look, crossing his arm. Mark sweeps his hair back, an argument on the tip of his tongue when Jeno suddenly shifts his footing and swings his leg up at Mark’s head.

Mark flinches, barely blocking the attack and jumping back to dodge a thrust from Jeno’s spear.

“Hey! I wasn’t ready!” Mark whines, dodging a stray punch from Jeno before crouching down and trying to sweep Jeno off of his feet. Jeno jumps up, leaping over Mark and turning his spear towards him, poised for an attack.

“Villains don’t announce when they’re gonna attack, hyung. Get used to it!”

Mark pops open a portal underneath himself, falling through and away from Jeno as the tip of the spear barely misses the top of his head. He reappears behind Jeno, landing a kick on his back. 

Jeno stumbles over, but quickly recovers as he turns around to grab Mark’s leg and stop him from landing. Mark vaults right over him, opening a portal mid air and flinging them both through.

They land in the middle of the environment simulator, which is currently an unmodified white plane. Mark recovers first, much more accustomed to changing orientation in a split second post-portal hopping. He jumps off of Jeno, pulling out his bow and firing a single shot at the control panel in the corner.

Jeno shoots up and tackles Mark down a split second too late, the holotech arrow already leaving his bow and flicking straight onto the On switch. Jeno barely manages to knock Mark over before the ground lights up suddenly. Gravity stops working, suspending both of them in mid air as Jeno loses his momentum.

“Really? Anti-gravity?” Jeno scoffs, instantly adapting and stomping his foot down onto Mark’s back and sending him hurtling towards the ground. Mark holds out his hands, absorbing all of the impact as he harmlessly floats off in another direction.

Mark turns back to Jeno just in time to see Jeno throw his spear at him. Mark parries the throw and sends it to the wall, drawing his bow and firing off a scatter of energy blasts, sending them ricocheting throughout the room.

Jeno dodges them all with practiced ease and the grace of a swan, narrowly twisting his body into the perfect outline to avoid them, rendering the attack utterly useless. Mark’s left eye twitches. Jeno gives him a cheeky grin, probably absorbed straight out of Donghyuck or Renjun’s textbook.

“Is that the best you can do, Astronaut Boy?” Jeno challenges, beckoning Mark forwards. Mark pulls Jeno’s spear out of the wall, letting his own float away for a moment with a mildly impressed glare.

“We’ll see, Noodle Bone,” Mark retorts, leaping towards Jeno. With a heave, Mark swings the spear down. Jeno barely wiggles out of the way of the tip, the shaft of the spear making contact and sending him hurtling towards the ground instead. Jeno mimics his own technique, pushing himself back off and back at Mark just as fast with a punch.

Mark parries the attack, popping through a portal to dodge the next one and trying to surprise Jeno with a jab. The attempt is ultimately unsuccessful, though, as Jeno whirls around and redirects the punch almost perfectly into Mark’s nose. He flies back through the closing portal, the air knocked out of his lungs.

“You fight like a goddamn textbook, hyung,” Jeno calls. “Aren’t you supposed to be the one with more street experience?”

Mark scoffs, rubbing his nose and shaking his head to reorient his senses. He’s ended up near the control panel, just beside the on switch while Jeno floats a few meters away and above him, having regained his spear and now just looking at Mark with challenge and confidence.

Mark almost gets whiplash from the change in level of expression Jeno’s showing lately. It’s hard to believe that this was the guy who didn’t know why people cried just a few months ago. Dream has changed them all, even if some changed more so than others.

Mark may have beaten them seven months back, but the same tactics weren’t going to work anymore. Like it or not, Mark’s way overdue for a change.

Starting now.

Mark turns away from Jeno, looking down to the doorway to the training facility. It’s empty, closed, even, but Jeno’s got his back turned to it. Mark’s eyes light up, feigning an expression of surprise.

“Oh! Jaemin! What’s up?” Mark calls out to no one. Jeno blinks for a moment, turning around to check for Jaemin. In that instant, Mark flicks the environment emulator off and charges towards Jeno. With the gravity disabled, Jeno instantly plummets to the ground, momentarily disoriented. Mark takes the chance to tackle him, twisting Jeno’s wrist to loosen his grip on the spear and pinning him to the ground.

Checkmate.

Mark grins down at Jeno, who’s staring back at him in a mixture of bewilderment and mild confusion.

“Seven to seven,” Mark announces, and Jeno seems to snap back to reality. The corners of his lips curl into a smile.

“You lied to me,” Jeno observes. “I’m impressed.”

Mark snorts. He eventually helps Jeno up, and they decide to take a break and call a truce. Jaemin does eventually come in (much to Mark’s amusement) for his daily training, only shooting Mark a mildly confused look for why he’s laughing so hard and getting waved off by Jeno. By the time they’ve run through fourteen more bouts (that, once again, ended in a total draw), the sun has dipped under the horizon, and Chenle’s paging them down for dinner.

“Five bucks says hotpot for the umpteenth time this week,” Jeno says in lieu of a goodbye, and Mark only scoffs at him.

“It’s Chenle’s turn to pick this week,” Mark points out. “I’d be more surprised if it wasn't a hotpot.”

Jeno shrugs. “You never know,” he says simply, turning to leave for a shower. “Don’t make me come drag you down!” Jeno calls back. Mark waves him off, sighing as he heads back to the control room.

Chenle said they have half an hour before he automatically assumes they’re not making it, which should hopefully be enough time for Mark to do his routine checkup on patrol reports and see if the monitors have picked up any noteworthy alien activity. Those bitches never have the courtesy to wait for dinner.

Just as Mark rounds the corner up to the control room, trails of a conversation drift to him through the corridor.

“All I’m saying is that you should at least give it a shot , you know. You can’t keep him in the dark forever,” Renjun says pointedly, halfway through a sigh as if he’s been saying the same thing for the past who knows how many hours.

Mark freezes, his last two brancells rubbing together at a million miles an hour.

He really shouldn’t be eavesdropping. It’s an invasion of privacy and Donghyuick’s said explicitly he doesn’t want to tell mark who his crush is and it’s really not nice to find that out like this and—

“I can’t just tell him that I like him, Injun,” Donghyuck returns, just as exasperated. “Besides, he doesn’t exactly have the time to maintain a relationship, and I don’t wanna bother him in the middle of work!”

Mark’s throat seizes up. Donghyuck has a crush on someone who doesn’t have time for him? A workaholic, from the sounds of things, but even workaholics have to know to value people around them, right? Especially someone like Donghyuck, who may be a little shit, but is most likely fifteen times more competent than whoever this asshole is. Honestly, if the guy can’t give Donghyuck what he deserves, he doesn’t even deserve Donghyuck’s affection.

He really shouldn’t be getting this worked up over something he’s not supposed to know, but Mark can’t help but feel something ugly pool in the pit of his stomach anyways. Nemesis years aside, Donghyuck is still his… friend? Close colleague? Whatever he is, Mark cares for him, more than he has time to properly show, but enough to know he deserves nothing less than the world.

“He’s always working, Hyuck,” Renjun half screams, seemingly on the verge of tearing his hair out. “It’s literally all he does! Report this and file that and the leader shit everything until he’s crawling into bed at 4 AM to get ready for a 6 AM patrol! You and I both know that isn’t going to change any time soon .”

Wait.

Report this and file that and the leader shit everything until he’s crawling into bed at 4 AM to get ready for a 6 AM patrol!

Donghyuck… likes a hero. And the only heroes he’s really had contact with is Dream. And the only two leaders of Dream are Mark and Jeno, which means…

Mark pales.

Oh no. Oh, no, no, no.

Jeno’s gonna reject Donghyuck if he ever confesses, because there is no way he’s ever leaving Jisung. Which means Donghyuck is going to be harbouring unrequited affection for a painfully long time, especially since they work together and everything. Which means Donghyuck is never going to be able to get the world of affection he’s long overdue for, which means—

“Well then, I suppose I’ll just never tell him,” Donghyuck says dejectedly, and Mark can’t help but feel his heart drop to his stomach. He wants to reach out, wants to burst into the room and just envelop Donghyuck in a massive, bone crushing hug and tell him it’s going to be alright. Because if Jeno can’t give Donghyuck the love he deserves, then Mark is going to make it his personal mission to shower him in the love he deserves, even if it’ll never be enough.

Subconsciously, Mark tries his best to not think about the implications of that thought.

Renjun sighs, and a brief silence ensues. Mark assumes they’ve moved to bestie cuddles, and tries to slink back downstairs. A part of him strangely suddenly wonders what those would be like. Maybe there’s a lot less curiosity on the Renjun front, but Donghyuck is just insanely huggable on a regular basis. He can’t imagine what cuddle-ready Donghyuck would be like. They’re just about the right height for it too, just the perfect position for Mark to pepper Donghyuck in as many kisses as he can get away with and tell him he deserves all the love the world can possibly offer.

But, of course, just because he’s a good friend. And because he cares for Donghyuck’s happiness. As a friend.

Totally.

“You look like you just found out who Donghyuck’s secret crush is,” Jaemin suddenly says, startling Mark and drawing a strangled yelp from him. He nearly jumps five feet in surprise, barely catching himself on the railing as he clutches his racing heart, turning down to glare at Jaemin.

“Watch it!” Mark whines. “You’re gonna give me a heart attack one of these days!”

Jaemin raises an eyebrow, unbothered as always. Seven months in, and Na Jaemin is still an absolute enigma to Mark. He always seems to know nothing and everything at the same time, showing up precisely when he’s needed like some kind of convenient Mary Sue character designed to karate chop the plot into motion.

“If anything, your battery acid coffee is—” Jaemin begins, and Mark cuts him off with an eye roll.

“—going to kill me first, yeah yeah yeah. Donghyuck already used that one,” Mark grumbles. His brain is still spinning at a million miles per hour, thinking about what he’s overheard. About the strange pick in heart rate he’s been having, although that might’ve just been Jaemin appearing out of nowhere (it wasn’t). Jaemin raises his eyebrow further.

“You really look like you’ve just discovered who Donghyuck’s secret crush is, dude,” Jaemin repeats, and Mark tries not to jump in shock again. He half debates reaching out and slamming a hand over Jaemin’s mouth just to shut him and his stupidly accurate bullshitting habit up.

“Well, I didn’t,” Mark says, probably about as convincing as Chenle insisting not stealing extra cheese puffs with orange dust on his teeth. Jaemin, understandably, is not fooled.

“I’d interrogate you this instant, but I’m honestly too lazy right now,” Jaemin finally says, sending a shiver down Mark’s spine in confused fear. “Come tell me if you want to, I guess. You know where to find me.”

And with that, he forges past Mark up the stairs, leaving him alone, confused and mildly terrified.

There seems to be a trend.

Mark can’t sleep.

Which is strange, because he never can’t sleep. If anything, he’s always in need of more sleep, and is constantly ready to stop, drop, and pass out. With that acknowledgement out of the way, Mark decides to stop trying to fall asleep, favouring to blink at the ceiling and sigh for the millionth time in the past ten minutes.

The thing is, he knows exactly why he can’t sleep. It’s stupid. Childish, even, but it’s insistent. The thought plagues him like a stupid parasite to a new host, eating away at Mark in ways he can’t quite explain. He’s not even supposed to find out about Donghyuck’s crush, but one thing led to another and here Mark is, lying in bed at 3 AM, eyes wide open and brain occupied with nothing but Donghyuck and his stupid little smile.

In a dream fantasy, Mark would get to see that smile every day, the outlines of Donghyuck’s expression unanimous with sunlight and etched into Mark’s brain like a tattoo. He’d wake up every morning to a pretty boy next to him, radiating sunshine and comfort Mark hadn’t known he had started to associate with Donghyuck.

It’s strange, unprecedented, considering their interactions are strained and minimal at best. A part of him wonders if the memories come from the past childhood he had somehow just completely erased from his recollection, while the other knows better.

Somehow, in the last seven months, despite Donghyuck’s apparent loath for him and unpredictable attitude, Mark had grown to care for him.

As a friend. Of course.

It has to be.

About half an hour in, Mark gives up. He sits up, brain still running at a million miles an hour as he throws off his covers. His body is dead tired, but luckily he doesn’t have patrol until 4 PM. Worst comes to worse, he’ll just ask Jaemin to knock him out on his way out for morning patrols.

Mark heads down to the kitchen, hoping a warm glass of milk or maybe a few shots of Renjun’s secret stash of vodka might be able to help. As he descends the stairs as quietly as possible, Mark notices the lights in the kitchen flicked on. A pair of glasses clink as he takes the last step, followed by a mildly disgusted blergh.

“How does he down this stuff in one go?” Donghyuck mutters, and Mark freezes instinctively. Great. Two accidental eavesdropping sessions in less than 12 hours.

“Huang Renjun is a strange and mysterious being,” Sungchan responds, and Mark’s nerves soothe at the confirmation that he’s not hearing something too important. As much as they trust him, Sungchan is simply terrible at keeping secrets.

Taking a deep breath, Mark decides to intrude. He blinks a couple of times, ruffling his hair and trying his best to appear natural as he stumbles into the kitchen. The light is too bright, and Mark has to squint to see Sungchan and Donghyuck on the island, two glass shot glasses in hand and a bottle of vodka between them.

“Good morning,” Mark greets. Donghyuck frowns.

“Aren’t you supposed to be asleep?” Donghyuck asks, genuine concern in his tone. A small part of Mark flutters for some godforsaken reason. The fact that Donghyuck worries about him gives him a strange amount of comfort, even if it’s perfectly normal.

Clearly, Mark needs to go to bed.

“I could say the same for you,” Mark retorts, almost surprising himself with how thick with sleep his voice is despite having been awake for nearly 20 hours.

Donghyuck’s frown softens, turning into a mild not-quite smile. “Touché. Vodka?” he holds out a glass. Mark shakes his head, despite having considered it earlier. He makes a beeline for the fridge instead, searching for milk.

“Suit yourself,” Donghyuck shrugs, throwing back a shot. Sungchan wrinkles his nose at his own shot in disgust, contemplating finishing it. Mark gives them a look of mild disbelief.

“Really? Vodka? At 3 AM?” Mark deadpans. Donghyuck throws him a lazy grin.

“Hey. Can you fault a guy for wanting to drink away his problems? Besides, Injun said I could have three shots, and I’m only on my second.”

Mark shakes his head, scoffing lightly. He turns to Sungchan with equal (if not more) disbelief.

“And what troubles are you drinking away?” Mark asks. Donghyuck breaks into a whine about ‘why does nobody ever ask me about my troubles’ while Sungchan just sighs loudly and mutters ‘boyfriend problems’ under his breath.

Mark gives Sungchan a look of sympathy. Long distance isn’t easy, even if he visits every two months or so.

“You miss him?” Mark asks. Sungchan nods, a faraway look in his eyes as he slides his shot towards Donghyuck, who lights up like a Christmas tree. Seven months into the hero business, and his stupid decision making skills is still in top shape. Mark had really hoped to make a difference on Donghyuck.

Then again, he really wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Taro’s moving to a new studio,” Sungchan sighs. “Starting his own business and everything. It’s such a big thing and he’s so excited for it and everything, and I’m not gonna even be able to make it back until the end of the month.”

Mark nods in understanding. “That’s rough, buddy.”

Donghyuck cackles, and the corners of Sungchan’s lips twitch in mild amusement.

“You’ve gotten funnier,” Donghyuck observes. He’s a little tipsy, Mark notes, although part of that might have to do with sleep deprivation too. There’s a slight blush to his cheeks, a barely there dust of pink on golden skin.

“Cute,” Mark mutters under his breath.

Silence.

Donghyuck blinks at him, confused.

“What?” Donghyuck asks, and realization hits Mark.

“What?” he echoes, like an idiot.

“You said ‘cute’,” Donghyuck points out. Mark fights back a flush.

“No I didn’t,” Mark denies, suddenly feeling his palms get very sweaty. Donghyuck frowns.

“I clearly heard you—”

Sungchan sighs loudly, slamming his hands down on the table and pushing his chair back to hop off of the island. “I am too tired for this shit. Good night.”

And with that, he leaves. Mark clears his throat.

“I didn’t say anything,” Mark insists, although Donghyuck is the opposite of convinced.

“Right…” Donghyuck drawls slowly, eyeing Mark suspiciously. Silence falls over them again, and Mark starts to notice how hot the room’s suddenly gotten. Before Donghyuck can say something and ruin Mark’s discretion all together (not that there was any to start with, but it’s the thought that counts), the fridge begins to beep, signalling the door being open for too long. Mark jumps, snapping back to reality as he snatches the milk out and closes the door.

“Nearly nine centuries, two massive technological revolutions and fighting off an entire alien invasion later, and we still haven’t figured out a way to keep the cold air inside,” Donghyuck mutters, eyeing the fridge door and scoffing. “Humans are pathetic .”

Mark chuckles. “These things take time,” he points out. Donghyuck scoffs.

“If we had time to figure out how to literally create matter from light , I’m sure we had enough time to figure out how to keep our shit cool for a decent while.”

Mark shrugs, but doesn’t press further. Donghyuck tends to get passionate about the incompetencies of the human race, as adorable as his ramblings are, Mark needs to go to bed at some point.

“Alright, ‘fess up, what’s got you chugging vodka at 3 AM on a Tuesday night?” Mark says, uncapping the milk carton and drinking straight out of the carton. It’s nearly empty anyways, he’ll just throw it out later.

Donghyuck raises an eyebrow at him. “Are you trying to give me a counselling session, Captain?”

Mark snorts, rolling his eyes at the nickname. He doesn’t know when Donghyuck started to adopt it, moreso teasing than actual respect behind the word. Mark finds he doesn’t really mind.

“And you wonder why we don’t ask you about your problems,” Mark mutters.

“Touché again,” Donghyuck hums, tossing back Sungchan’s half empty shot. His expression contorts in disgust again, but he recovers much faster this time.

“Alright, I’ll bite,” Donghyuck says, slamming his shot glass down and staring straight at Mark with mildly hooded eyes. “Captain, can I take you out?”

Mark spits out his milk. He begins to choke, almost snorting out milk up his nose as he tries to recover. Donghyuck jumps into action, apologies already spilling out as he reaches out to help Mark from keeling over and dying from a mild cardiac arrest.

“You don’t normally ask before you knock me out cold,” Mark jokes, heart jackhammering in his chest. He can’t believe his ears. Take him out? For what? Why… Why Mark?

Donghyuck scoffs, rolling his eyes. “Jesus, I forgot how stupid you can be,” Donghyuck mutters under his breath, and Mark is almost offended. “No. Out . Like, the outside world . The one that exists outside of your desk and never ending pile of work.”

Mark makes a guttural noise in the back of his throat. “Hey! I go out plenty often!” Mark argues. Donghyuck gives him a pointed look.

“Patrols and missions don’t count,” Donghyuck deadpans. “Besides, you need a break. Working yourself to the bone isn’t helping anyone.”

Mark scowls. “We are not having this conversation again.”

Donghyuck sighs. “We are going to have this conversation until you decide to finally take a break , dammit. I’m taking you out, whether you like it or not.”

For a moment, Mark is stunned. His heart is jackhammering under his ribcage, and there’s a strange blush to his cheeks despite not having a drop of Donghyuck’s (Renjun’s) vodka. He doesn’t even know why he’s so flustered, or why his heart seems to be running at a million miles an hour.

The thought of the ghost of Donghyuck’s sunshine smile trickles back into his train of thought, and Mark’s throat closes up. He feels… weird . Tingly. Warm. Strange. This is foreign territory. Mark’s never felt anything like it before. It’s like the buzz of adrenaline after a mission, like fireworks setting off in his stomach. It’s like the warm embrace of his old friends in Seoul, steady and constant, no matter what happens, like a warm campfire on a cold winter night. It’s like the strange erratic thump in his chest whenever Donghyuck turns over and gives him that toothy grin of his, so full of mischief and danger and Mark knows he shouldn’t be so entranced by it.

And yet…

And yet he wants more of it, nonetheless.

He wants Donghyuck in all of his glory, from the stupid decisions to the strokes of genius that saves their asses on critical missions. From the constant shoulder next to Mark, reliable in his own subtle way, to the outstretched hand on Mark’s own shoulder, reassuring him that he’s doing alright . From the cute, half asleep Donghyuck he has the pleasure of meeting by the coffee machine every morning, to the sharp tongued, quick witted demon that keeps Mark itching to try and keep up with, even if he knows he’ll never be able to match.

Mark doesn’t quite know what it is, can’t place a name on the tingle under his skin, but one thing’s for certain.

He is undeniably, irrevocably and absolutely entranced by one Lee Donghyuck.

“What… what are we?” Mark asks, genuinely puzzled. 

Donghyuck blinks at him, confused. “Uh…” he begins, clearly unprepared for this question. “I guess… as of right now, um…”

Donghyuck pauses, scrunching up his face to think. He’s so cute. Mark’s poor little heart can’t take this.

“Friends?” Donghyuck suggests. Mark’s heart plummets to his stomach, and he hasn’t the faintest idea why disappointment suddenly overwhelms him. This is a good thing. They’re friends, goddamnit! Isn’t this what Mark wanted for so badly?

(It’s not enough, a part of Mark realizes, although he tries his best to bury that thought. He can’t afford to go down that rabbit hole.)

“Friends,” Mark repeats. “Right.”

Silence ensues again, and Mark chides himself for strange thoughts. Donghyuck’s got a crush on Jeno, for fuck’s sake. Who is Mark to dream of—

“So… are you free on Thursday? I don’t have patrols all afternoon,” Donghyuck interrupts Mark’s train of thought, snapping him back to reality. Mark coughs, reorienting himself and trying for a smile.

“Sure,” he says. “I can clear my schedule. I don’t think we have anything big coming up.”

Donghyuck grins. “Damn. I feel so special. The Mark Lee, Workaholic Extraordinaire is clearing his schedule for little old me?”

Mark scoffs, rolling his eyes, although his heart’s leapt into his throat. You are special , he thinks to himself.

“Anything for a friend,” Mark grins.

He wonders if he’s just imagined Donghyuck’s smile wavering a little at that last part.

“So… where exactly are you planning to drag me out to?” Mark asks, eyeing the streets around him to try and guess their destination. So far, they’ve portal hopped to an ice cream stall by the river, where Donghyuck insists they walk the rest of the way to maintain the surprise.

Mark’s curiosity gnaws at him as he licks his cookies and cream, trailing after an oddly hyperactive Donghyuck. He hasn’t the faintest idea where all of the energy is coming from, but he did see Jaemin making more of his battery acid coffee this morning. Donghyuck must’ve downed one to recover from his morning patrol shift in preparation for their not-quite-date.

Whatever the reason, he’s all sorts of adorable like this, practically bouncing around like a squirrel on a sugar high. Donghyuck turns around to face Mark, the smile that hasn’t left his face so far still etched on his lips. Mark wonders if he’s the type to smile into a kiss. Not that he’d actually be able to find out, of course, since there’s no way he’s ever kissing Donghyuck. They’re just friends.

Yes.

Just… friends .

“I can’t tell you that, dumbass,” Donghyuck says, rolling his eyes. “That defeats the whole point of a surprise.”

Mark pouts. “Can’t you even give me a hint?” Mark whines, trying for his best puppy dog eyes. According to Yuta, they work at least 73% of the time, and that’s a chance Mark will take. 

Sadly, Donghyuck seems to be immune.

“Nope!” Donghyuck announces, popping the ‘p’ as he runs back and grabs Mark’s wrist. With an insistent tug, he drags Mark into a run. Mark yelps, trying to save his ice cream as he speeds up to keep pace with Donghyuck.

“If you’re just dragging me on glorified stamina training, I’m going home—”

“Oh, shut up, I know you’re enjoying this.”

Well, he’s not exactly wrong.

Shanghai, despite all of the problems in the underworld, isn’t a bad place by any means. The city is beautiful in an almost traditional way, retaining thousands of years of history despite the sleek modern infrastructure. In between the giant sky skyscrapers and colourful holographic street art covering every inch of available wall space is the Huangpu river, whose riverbanks Mark and Donghyuck are currently traversing.

After the Climate Reform of the 24th century, the river’s water is almost as clean and natural as a forest stream, allowing for large river cruises and ferries to traverse along with flocks of river dolphins and native fish. It’s beautiful no matter how many times Mark’s passed by to ogle at them, the perfect marriage of nature and civilization. In centuries past, such a task was deemed impossible, but as the world has to learn by now, nothing is impossible. Only yet to be done.

The riverbanks of the Huangpu river are lined with parks and recreation docks, with a myriad of Volos fauna growing along the river. Despite centuries of superheroes harnessing the power of the strange energy, no one’s ever been able to accurately discover how exactly it works. The best explanation Mark’s heard compares it to light or heat, a sort of passive energy hanging around in the air, seeping into natural life through pure osmosis.

Like superheroes, some plants and animals have also developed the ability to absorb significant amounts of Volos energy, leading to strange developments. From talking trees to dolphins with wings, the natural world has had its fair share of, er, super powered beings, even if they’re significantly more rare than human supers.

In a strange way, Mark almost feels a sense of comfort from it, to know that he wasn’t the only one having to struggle in a world of magic and aliens. After all, the talking trees clearly have it worse than him, being shipped off into a lab for the rest of its life.

“What’s turning in that giant head of yours?” Donghyuck asks, snapping Mark out of his daze. Mark blinks, being pulled back to reality as he turns towards Donghyuck.

“It’s nothing interesting,” Mark says almost sheepishly. He hadn’t realized he’d been so deep in his useless thoughts. Donghyuck gives him an eyebrow raise.

“I’ve had to listen to Jisung spend four hours trying to explain an entire comic book universe to me for a bad joke,” Donghyuck deadpans. “Try me.”

Mark chuckles lightly, but concedes. They’ve slowed down to a leisure walk, and Mark launches into a mild ramble about Shanghai’s success in marrying nature and civilization in its infrastructure. He’s not an expert in any means, but Mark’s always had a fascination for the wonders of the world. Humans are simply just kind of amazing sometimes, achieving things that shouldn’t seem possible, yet it’s somehow done anyways.

Donghyuck hangs onto every word, interjecting here and there with his own thoughts. He’s more cynical than Mark, interjecting with how humans are simultaneously idiots because they had to waste three centuries living in pollution to finally do something about it.

Normally, Mark would just let him win the argument because Donghyuck is undeniably adorable when he wins, but Mark feels strangely selfish today. Maybe it has something to do with the good atmosphere, the amiability and peace that’s fallen over Shanghai after the city’s managed to stabilize over the last two months post-Nightmare. Maybe it has something to do with this being the first proper voluntary break Mark’s taken in seven months, and he’d like to think of nothing but himself for once.

Or, maybe, it’s got something to do with the pretty boy whose fingers have somehow become entangled with Mark’s, although they’re both pretending it’s not happening.

They do eventually reach their destination (to the mild disappointment of them both), which turns out to be a riverside dock. There’s a tourist cruise about to leave for a two hour long trip through Shanghai, and after a bit of running away from a small spot of fans trying to snap photos with them, Mark and Donghyuck make it on board.

They take residence on the second floor of the cruise, which is smaller and slightly more conspicuous. The boat rocks into motion almost in the instant Mark leans on the railing, taking a deep breath of the stale city air. As far as city cruises go, this one doesn’t seem to be half bad, although it seems to be heavily catered to mass tourists.

“Not quite the refreshing breeze I was expecting,” Donghyuck hums, mildly dejected. Mark chuckles, shaking his head.

“It’s alright. We live on an island anyways, I’m not in desperate need of fresh air,” Mark says, giving Donghyuck his best attempt at a reassuring smile. Donghyuck nods, although he seems to be still uneasy. Mark breathes a sigh of exasperation, leaning over to bump his shoulders into Donghyuck.

“It’s fine , Duckie,” Mark says. “I don’t mind. Really.”

Donghyuck chews on his bottom lip. “I mean… it’s literally your first day off in, like, seven months,” he points out. “I kind of want it to be at least somewhat special. But this isn’t exactly… what I had in mind.”

Mark shakes his head. He leans over towards Donghyuck and rests his head on his shoulder, smiling with content. It’s a bit of an awkward position, but Mark doesn’t mind.

“I’m with you, aren’t I?” Mark argues. “That’s gotta count for something.”

Donghyuck falters for a moment, and Mark instantly begins to worry if he’s said something terrible.

“You can’t just say shit like that,” Donghyuck chuckles, although he’s not quite as relaxed as he was a second ago. Mark frowns, standing back up straight to look at Donghyuck properly.

“What do you mean?” Mark asks. Donghyuck scoffs, rolling his eyes.

“I can’t tell if you’re doing this on purpose or you’re actually just this dense,” Donghyuck sighs. “I mean… haven’t you put anything together? Me taking all of the early morning shifts just because I knew I’d see you for like ten minutes in the kitchen, despite hating waking up before noon? Me specifically wanting to do something special for you on your only day off? Fuck, I even asked you out , and you straight up just friendzoned me with a clueless little bat of your stupidly pretty eyelashes. You can’t just… say that I’m special and then turn around and pretend I’m nothing more than that one annoying friend you have to babysit sometimes.”

Mark falters, words watching in his throat. He has a feeling this wasn’t just about this… whatever this supposed not-date is.

“What… what are you saying, Duck—”

Donghyuck throws his hands into the air in exasperation. “And then there’s that! You call everyone by their full name and are always trying to be some kind of… manager for us, telling us what we can do when you’re not us in the first place! And just when I thought I’d somehow be different just because you use a nickname, you do exactly the same thing with me! I’m not— we’re not useless , hyung. Full offense, but you don’t know the first thing about us, and you’ll never know that if you won’t let us into your life and be consistent with your intentions!”

“Duckie—” Mark begins.

“Don’t,” Donghyuck snaps, tears welling up in his eyes and Mark thinks he really must’ve screwed up this time. “Just… don’t . I’m tired of your excuses. I’m not a child , Mark. Don’t treat me like one.”

Mark recoils slightly, taken aback. His brain whirrs at a million miles an hour, trying to comprehend Donghyuck’s words. He’d always thought he was doing them all a favour, taking on the worst part of the job to give them the best chance at proving themselves. It didn’t matter to Mark if he was practically slaving away every day from sunrise till the next sunrise. If the others could lead a new, happier life, that was enough.

And for a while, he thought he had achieved that.

Evidently, Mark had been going about it the wrong way.

“I don’t… I’m… I’m sorry,” Mark stammers, trying to gauge Donghyuck’s reaction with every word he picks out of the mess that’s congregated in his throat.

“A little late for that,” Donghyuck mutters. Mark swallows, guilt pooling in the pit of his stomach. He needs to make this right somehow. If Donghyuck wants to let into Mark’s life and all of its craziness where Mark can no longer try to protect him, then so be it.

“I… I just don’t want you guys to have to do all of this,” Mark confesses. “It’s not just the workload, it’s having to constantly be thrown to the sharks of press conferences and trying to stop wars from happening in meeting calls. It’s… it’s not fun or whatever, Duckie.”

Donghyuck scoffs, waving him off. “It’s my job,” Donghyuck argues. “Jobs aren’t meant to be fun. Just because you want to shoulder all the burden, doesn’t mean you have to. Or should have to. I…” Donghyuck trails off, choking up slightly. Mark’s stomach twists at the sight, heart dropping. He’s decided he doesn’t like this sight. Donghyuck in near tears, quietly fuming with disappointment at Mark for being an idiot. He deserves it, honestly.

“I want to help you, dumbass. We all do,” Donghyuck says, affectionately despite his words. Mark presses his lips together, taking Donghyuck’s hand as he tries to stop his stupid heart from beating out of his ribcage. This feels climatic. Important. Like some kind of last chance for Mark to atone for his past mistakes., although something seems to be missing.

Whatever it is, Mark’s determined to not screw up this time.

“Then do it,” Mark finally says. “I won’t stop you. Not anymore.”

For a moment, there is silence. Mark’s heart hammers in his throat, a million butterflies storming in his stomach in anxiety. Donghyuck’s expression shifts through fifteen million different emotions, before finally landing on mild disbelief.

“I hate you,” Donghyuck finally replies, although there’s no malice to his tone. Mark can’t help but laugh.

“You’re valid. I would hate me too, if I were you,” Mark hums. “I mean, I'm quite the idiot, aren’t I?”

“The worst,” Donghyuck agrees. Mark grins at him.

“But you’re stuck with me. It’s the tiny font in the ‘let Lee Donghyuck into my life’ contract,” Mark argues. Donghyuck shrugs.

“I wouldn’t mind being stuck with you for the rest of my life.”

Silence falls over them again. The cruise continues to rock under their feet, the people around them waving cameras and phones around to take photos of the beautiful riverbank and city, but Mark finds he really couldn’t care less about the beauty of the marriage between nature and civilization.

Not when there’s an even more breathtaking boy in front of him.

Quietly, three realizations finally hits Mark like a ton of bricks.

One, he’s an idiot.

Two, he’s an absolute fool .

And three… 

“I think I might be in love with you,” Mark whispers, and it feels like he’s just opened a dam of emotions inside of his chest. Warmth and joy buzzes under his skin bursting like a million fireworks as he finally stops trying to lie to himself. He’s in love with Donghyuck. He’d let Donghyuck into his life anytime, because he loves him. He’s absolutely, irrevocably, utterly smitten with one Lee Donghyuck.

And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Donghyuck smiles back at him, eyes starting to well up with tears again. Mark reaches up to wipe the tear out of his eyes, causing Donghyuck to laugh lightly.

“You’re cute when you laugh,” Mark says, moreso thinking out loud. Donghyuck sighs in disbelief.

“You’re so fucking cheesy,” Donghyuck observes. “But…”

Suddenly, Donghyuck’s expression snaps to surprise, before melting into panic.

“Duck!” Donghyuck yells. Mark flinches, body moving before his brain can catch up. He feels the edge of a dagger barely graze over the tip of his hair, coming straight for Donghyuck’s throat. Donghyuck raises his hand, expression hardening as he blocks the attack and twists the attacker’s hand, making him drop the dagger. Before grabbing it and turning around and stabbing another body approaching him.

Mark thrusts his elbow behind him, slamming into a body as he hears a loud grunt of pain echo overhead. His reflexes kick in, and Mark turns around to punch the assassin in the face, knocking him out cold. Instantly, he spots three more drops onto the cruise deck, all donning guns and aiming them towards Mark.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Mark growls, charging forwards and opening a portal in front of him. The assassins begin to open fire, the noise of the rifles startling the other tourists and sending them into a wave of panic. Terrified screaming rings in Mark’s ear as he opens portals in front of the assassins, redirecting their fire into the river and praying he’s not hitting poor innocent fish.

He pops out a portal by one of the assassin’s flank, throwing a left hook into his jaw. The other two turn to him with their guns raised, ready to fire again. Mark pulls the guy in his hold into a choke hold, holding him up as a body shield in hopes of stopping the others' fire.

It doesn’t quite work, bullets beginning to tear through the air. Mark’s expression hardens, swiping his holotech wristband to life as he summons his bow and holotech armour. His clothes shift into his hero attire, a longbow materializing in his hands as Mark fires off two tranquilizer shots. They lodge straight into the assassin’s chest, piercing through their armour and knocking them both out cold.

Just as the bodies hit the floor, the sound of people descending grappling lines snatch Mark's attention away. He whirls around, just in time to see a large burly man slam his foot into his chest. Mark flies backwards, slamming onto the cruise deck and banging his head hard. His vision blurs for a moment, but before Mark has time to even groan, the man picks him up again and throws Mark towards the railing like a ragdoll.

Mark readjusts mid air, opening a portal in the nick of time and popping through over the burly man’s head, drawing his bow. He fires another tranq shot, but before it can make contact, the man’s skin ripples, changing into hard metal. The tranq shot bounces harmlessly off of his neck, and the man turns around to flash a silver grin towards Mark.

Mark’s eyes widens. He mutters ‘shit’ under his breath and pops through another portal again, landing behind Metal Man. Metal Man turns around just as fast, already midway through a swing and Mark barely has time to hold his bow up to block with both of his hands and catch the punch.

Using his fist as leverage, Mark swings himself onto Metal Man’s chest, delivering a swift kick to his chest. Metal man barely staggers backwards, reaching with his other arm to try to grab Mark’s leg. Before he can make contact, a tiny silver spider soars through the air, smacking into his metal cheek and momentarily knocking him back.

“Get off!” Donghyuck yells, and Mark lets go. He falls to the ground and pops through a portal to stand up again, just in time to catch the silver spider discharge a massive bolt of electricity. The metal on Metal Man’s skin further conducts the electricity, guiding it through his body at twice the intensity as a blood curdling scream rips out of his throat. He staggers backwards, paralyzed, and Mark sees his chance.

He switches arrow configuration on his bow, drawing a knockback arrow and firing it. As the tip of the arrow makes contact with Metal Man’s chest, he explodes backwards, slamming into a group of his comrades and rolling on the ground.

“Three o’clock!” Donghyuck yells. Mark snaps back into action, turning around just in time to see another dagger wielding assassin charging at him. He ducks down, pushing his palm forwards and knocking the assassin into the air. He pops open a portal to send him into the river, before turning to Donghyuck.

Donghyuck seems to be holding his own just fine, taking on three at the same time in pure hand to hand combat, seemingly wielding a cruise-issued raincoat as a weapon. He whips the raincoat at a poor fellow, smacking him back before kicking him in the face and grabbing his fallen rifle. Another one tries to flank him, only for Donghyuck to whirl around and throat the rifle straight into his face, knocking him back.

Behind the fight, a group of terrified tourists scream and run away, while a few stragglers are frozen in fear, unable to move. Mark grits his teeth. There’s too many chances for casualties here.

“We need to get out of here, there’s too many potential casualties!” Mark yells. Donghyuck kicks a guy to the ground, turning to Mark with a dishevelled expression. He’s still pretty though, as stupid as that thought is in the middle of a fight for their lives.

“Where do you suggest we go, genius?!” Donghyuck yells. “The riverbanks are even more crowded!”

Mark grits his teeth, but before he gets a chance to answer, a loud shout snaps him back into action. He barely has time to react before some maniac runs at him with his bare hands. Mark grabs onto his forearms, stopping the man from running, ready to toss him away before a red countdown at 5 seconds and a vest full of explosives catches his eyes.

“You’re going down with me and this entire cruise!” the man yells in Mark’s face, gripping onto Mark’s arms tightly. Mark struggles, the countdown screaming in his ear for three seconds before he realizes he doesn’t have the time. He grits his teeth and pops open a portal in front of him, pushing both the man and himself through as they fall into the river.

The countdown hits zeroes the instant they make it under the waves. Mark barely has a split second to let go and close the portal before the explosion consumes him, blasting the air out of his lungs and sending him blasting through the water. His holotech armour absorbs most of the impact, but the sheer shock of it alone paints dark spots in Mark’s vision.

His head begins to pound, lungs burning at the lack of oxygen. White noise rings in his waterlogged ears, tuning out even Mark’s own thoughts as he flies through the water. He barely registers anything at this point, only the air running out in his breath and the faint rays of sunlight futilely trying to dig through the water and to him under the waves. Hopelessness settles into him, limbs rendered useless as he feels his consciousness slipping away.

This is it.

This is how he goes.

In hindsight, it’s not the worst way to go. Mark’s always wanted to die a hero, one worthy of the lifetime of expectation but on his shoulder. For a second, he wonders if the city would remember him, even if his service was short-lived. He wonders if his hyungs back in Seoul would be proud of him, giving up his life for hundreds of others like a proper hero.

He wonders if Dream would miss him. If Donghyuck would tell them he’s sorry for not believing in them. For not trusting in them. For not being a proper leader.

And then, almost like an afterthought, but it’s allconsuming in his final thoughts, Mark wonders what Donghyuck’s lips would taste like, if he’d been given just another second to close the gap.

A dark shadow breaks into the waves as the dark spots start to fill his vision. Mark barely registers the arm looping around his waist and under his arms, not even noticing his body begin to lift out of the water. His eyes flutter close, lungs burning as water begins to rush through his throat. Sunlight greets him and weak rays, and Mark can faintly feel something press against his lips. He barely has the brain function left to feel anything except for a small puff of air pushing into his mouth. His lungs cling onto the miniscule pocket of oxygen, barely hanging on for a second longer as his head finally breaks out of the waves.

“—open your eyes, damnit! Mark! ” Donghyuck yells, barely cutting through the white noise ringing in Mark’s ears. Mark doesn’t respond, body light and weak, lungs still waterlogged. He feels a small sphere of sorts being pushed through his lips, and faintly hears a click go off in the background.

Instantly the water drains out of his lungs, and air rushes in to fill its space. Mark’s eyes fly open with a gasp, reality rushing back into him as his brain wakes up. Donghyuck is in front of him, holding him up with one arm while the other clings onto a lifebuoy.

The sun is hitting Donghyuck’s hair in all the right angles, light glimmering as droplets of water bounces off of his beautiful golden locks. His eyes are so full of relief, yet there’s mild concern and fear lingering in them too. Mark’s stomach flares up with the desire to lean over and kiss the worry off his pretty lips, already beginning to lean over.

But before he can even get close enough, bullets begin to rain down around them. Mark flinches, reflexes kicking in as he opens a portal under them. They drop onto the nearby riverbank, behind a couple of bushes and away from the river. Mark grunts as his back slams into the ground, pain spiking up in his peripheral vision.

“Thanks for the save,” Donghyuck groans, rubbing the top of his head.

“Likewise,” Mark says curtly. He pushes himself onto a sitting position, blinking the dark spots out of his eyes. Almost drowning always takes a bit of time to recuperate from. Once he’s deemed himself readjusted enough, Mark holds up his wrist and taps on his holotech wristband. An earpiece materializes in his ear, tapping into Dream’s private communication line.

“Hey, is anyone—”

“ Mark?! Mark, is Hyuck with you? Are you guys alright?! ” Renjun’s voice instantly fills the line, full of panic. Mark recoils slightly from his voice, glancing over to Donghyuck. He’s put his earpiece in too, flinching from Renjun’s sudden exclamation.

“I’m good, Injun,” Donghyuck says quickly. “Where are the others?”

Renjun sighs, frantic typing echoing on his end. He’s volunteered to take over Mark’s monitoring duty for the afternoon, and judging from the assassins that’ve just jumped them, something’s happened.

“I can’t say for sure, some kind of glitch just reset the system and I’ve been offline for the last half hour. Jeno and Jisung should be on patrol somewhere near the Shanghai Tower. Jaemin and Chenle were supposedly doing some reconnaissance on that restaurant on Nanjing Boulevard, but they disappeared seconds before the system reset,” Renjun reports. Mark frowns, looking up at Donghyuck, only to find him already pulling out his holopad and checking on Dream’s system.

“Do you have any idea who those guys were?” Mark asks. Renjun hums an affirmative.

“Quite a lot, actually,” Renjun sighs, slight aggression in his tone. “The motherfucker even left me a voicemail. Turns out, Nightmare isn’t as dead as we thought.”

Mark freezes, blood running cold.

Nightmare’s… back?

Donghyuck growls. “Should’ve known better,” he mutters under his breath. “Cut off the cockroach’s head, and it’ll regenerate in the shadow. I suspect this is their attempt at an Uno reverse card.”

Mark nods, coming to the same conclusion. His brain begins to kick into overdrive, trying to figure out what to do. He’d need to first locate where his team is, and then there’s the matter of finding out where Nightmare’s coming from, and… 

“We’re never going to win this thing, are we?” Mark realizes. Donghyuck freezes mid motion, looking up and blinking at Mark in confusion.

“We… what?” Donghyuck asks. Mark purses his lips.

“The fight against Nightmare,” Mark elaborates. “I… we should’ve known better. We already know they’re got too many inside agents to keep them in prison for long. And as long as they keep trying to kill us, well… they might succeed, one of these days.”

Donghyuck purses his lips. “It’s not like we can instantly purge the entire system,” Donghyuck chuckles nervously. “What do you want us to do, kill them instead?”

Mark doesn’t respond. Donghyuck’s blinking increases in frequency. Slowly, they narrow into suspicion.

“Who are you and what have you done to the real Mark?” Donghyuck hisses. Mark scoffs, rolling his eyes.

“Renjun, call the mayor,” Mark instructs. “Tell her it’s a Code Black, and put me on call as soon as you get through.”

“ Alright, but… what the hell are you trying to do? ” Renjun asks, starting to dial in their private line with the mayor. Mark takes a deep breath, adjusting his wristband and cracking his neck.

“Well, for starters, I need to find out where the hell the others went. And then, well…”

Mark’s eyes burn with the fire of determination.

“I’m gonna make them pay for even trying to kill you guys.”

Turns out, finding the others was an easier task than Mark thought.

For starters, he finds Jaemin and Chenle almost instantly, just by using his good old ears and hearing a piercing sonic boom go off two streets down from their location. Donghyuck volunteers to go check it out and hopefully get their comms back online while Mark searches for Jeno and Jisung.

He spends approximately five seconds running along the river bank to try and find a bridge as Shanghai Tower was just a water stream away, only to skid to a stop as he sees the top of the building explode. From the debris, two bodies jump out, fighting in mid air with a couple of people with various air-related Voloi and wings.

One of the bodies begins to expand at an astronomical rate, becoming a literal four hundred feet giant as he steps into the river. It begins to overflow, and Mark barely has time to react and open a series of portals along the riverbank to redirect the water back inside.

In the meantime, giant Jisung begins to swat at the flying assassins around him, grabbing multiple at a time to slam into nearby buildings. Mark grits his teeth, opening a portal over top of Jisung’s shoulder and jumping through to help.

He’s instantly greeted by Jeno’s spear nearly impaling his nose off, barely ducking down in time for the spear to go past him and into some poor bloke’s shoulder, tearing a scream out of his throat. Mark turns around mid air and kicks the assassin, sending him flying away as they both land on Jisung’s giant shoulder.

An insectoid assassin charges at them with four blades on her four arms, swinging faster than the eye can blink. Mark and Jeno barely manage to parry the first few flurries, before simultaneously jumping out of the way. Exchanging a single pointed look, a plan strikes through them both. Mark flips backwards, away from the assassin’s reach and thrusts out his palm, summoning a dozen portals around the assassin and under Jeno.

He falls through, beginning to zip through at lightning speed and attacking the insectoid at multiple angles. She barely manages to keep up, turning around in circles to parry with all four arms. Mark draws his bow, knocking a tranq arrow and aiming for a tiny blind spot near the assassin’s thigh. He lets it loose, the arrow flying straight through two crossed blades, impaling perfectly into the assassin’s thigh and knocking her out cold.

“Good to see you!” Jeno yells, parrying an incoming strike from an air cannon wielding assassin. “Where’s Donghyuck?!”

Mark grins at him, shooting a tranq at another assassin approaching him. “With Jaemin and Chenle! What happened to your comms?!”

“Tasered out!” Jeno replies in between dodging a couple of wind blasts by flipping into the air. “Fried them instantly. We couldn’t salvage them before they started coming in dozens.”

Mark grits his teeth. It’s a coordinated attack, Mark realizes. They’ve been planning this, somehow getting Dream’s location and plans ahead of time. Renjun mentioned a system reset, it’s possible they’ve hacked into Dream’s security at some point and gained full access to their positioning and plans. He’ll have to get Donghyuck to do a full sweep later.

“We need to regroup! Jisung, shrink back!” Mark yells. Jisung nods, glowing brightly for a split second before compacting back into human size. They begin to fall through the air alongside the other assassins. Mark closes his eyes, trying to remember what Nanjing Boulevard looked like. He opens a portal underneath them, reorienting their direction to return them to their feet the instant they pop through.

They end up in Century Square, and just in time to see a giant fifty foot mech fly across the air and slamming into the street. Nanjing’s Boulevard’s usual human vibrancy is replaced with panic and fear, fire erupting on the side of the street while an army of mecha robots funnel down the street. Mark follows their charge, turning around to see Donghyuck, Jaemin and Chenle holding them back from retreating civilians. He moves to help them, but his comms suddenly beeps.

“ Hyung! I got the mayor on! ” Renjun calls. “ Do you want me to transfer the call?! ”

Mark hesitates, feet rooted to the ground. On one hand, the others need his help. On the other hand, he can’t exactly hold a conversation with the mayor while trying to fight massive fifty foot mechas. He’s only one man, after all. But—

“Take the call,” Jeno interjects, giving Mark a firm look. “We’ve got this.”

Mark opens his mouth to protest, only to recall Donghyuck’s words from earlier.

I want to help you, dumbass .

We all do.

Mark swallows, pushing back the warning signs in his brain. He nods at Jeno, who grins back at him.

“Tell Donghyuck he’s got my full permission to blow shit up this time,” Mark adds. Jeno scoffs.

“I don’t think he ever needed your permission, hyung,” Jeno points out. A smile tugs at the corner of Mark’s lips.

“I know.” That’s why I love him , Mark adds mentally.

“ Are you coming or not? ” Renjun interrupts. Mark snaps back to seriousness. He gives Jeno one last pointed look before he and Jisung take off. He doesn’t even linger to watch them, turning around and portalling straight back to the base.

“Injun—” Mark begins, rushing to the central control station. A dagger flies past his ear, slamming into the wall behind him to cut off his last words. Mark’s breath hitches in his throat, frozen in place as he stares at Renjun, incredulous.

“Ah, fuck, sorry, reflexes,” Renjun says hurriedly, rushing over to retrieve his dagger. Mark sighs in relief. Thankfully, he didn’t accidentally portal back to the wrong place.

“Have you accepted the call—”

“Hello, Captain,” Mayor Zhou interrupts, snatching Mark's attention. He turns to the center of the room, where Mayor Zhou sits on top of their conference table in all of her holographic glory. His eyes widen for a second, before he recomposes himself.

“Mayor Zhou,” Mark greets. “I trust my colleague has briefed you on the situation?”

Mayor Zhou waves him off. “There was no need. I could use my eyes to understand that Nightmare is launching a counterattack. I thought you told me they had been rid of entirely? Something about cutting off the head of the snake?”

Mark grimaces. “To be… completely honest, I thought that was the case too, until a few hours ago. Normally, cutting off the snake’s head is more than enough to rid of its threat. However…”

“...You forgot to anticipate the hoard of cockroaches?” Mayor Zhou finishes, raising an eyebrow. Mark sighs, reluctantly nodding.

For a moment, there is silence. He can feel Mayor Zhou’s gaze boring into him, her sharp, fox-like eyes cold and calculating, as if trying to decipher Mark’s questionable competency.

“Your deadline is in four days, isn’t it?” Mayor Zhou hums. “What were the conditions of your permanent operations? Nightmare gone, Shanghai in relative good favour with Dream, and no major scandals regarding your… unconventional lineup.”

Mark swallows. The second and third one had been difficult, but he’d like to think they’ve reached the bare minimum. As for the first one…

“Which is why I’m calling in for Code Black, ma’am,” Mark says with more bravado than he thought he could muster. “I… I know it’s not right to take untrialed lives, but you’ve seen where mercy led us. No matter how many heads we cut off, they’ll only grow back in dozens.”

Mayor Zhou doesn’t respond, only vaguely nodding in acknowledgement. To face the Mayor of Shanghai on a normal day is unnerving enough, to face her on the day of his possible biggest failure is beyond explanation. He’s only got one chance at this, and they don’t exactly have time to launch another calculated strike to win back the upper hand.

“You do understand that I cannot possibly allow the culling of innocent civilians, correct? No matter what the intention is, Shanghai’s law will never allow that to go unpunished. Are you aware of this?”

Mark purses his lips. “But this is—”

“I asked if you are aware of this, Captain,” Mayor Zhou interrupts, boring her gaze into his figure. Despite being nothing but a holographic projection on a wooden table, Mayor Zhou simply has an aura that intimidates him beyond words. Gulping, Mark nods slowly.

“Y–yes. Yes, I am,” Mark says, defeated. His brain begins to run at a million miles an hour, trying to figure out how the fuck they were going to be able to pull this off without offending assault laws and—

“Good,” Mayor Zhou hums, expression relaxing . “Permission granted.”

Wait.

What ?!

“P–permission granted?” Mark stammers, not believing his ears. Out of the corner of his eyes, he can see Rejun mirror his expression of disbelief. Mayor Zhou nods.

“Is there a problem, Captain?” Mayor Zhou asks, raising an eyebrow. Mark quickly shakes his head, hands flying up defensively.

“N–no, uh, I’m very thankful. It’s just… ah, I thought…” Mark trails off, not sure how to choose his next words. Mayor zhou tilts her head to the side, mildly cranking up the terrifying factor behind her gaze.

“I thought you were aware, Captain. No innocent civilian will ever be harmed without consequence. Don’t you think Nightmare’s overdue to face the consequences of their actions?”

Mark forcibly stops his jaw from falling open, trying (and failing) to suppress a wide grin. In the corner of his eyes, Mark can see Renjun’s face split into a wide grin, sliding his dagger into its holster. It’s been a while since he’s last used it lethally, Mark notes. He can’t imagine a more terrifying Renjun, but the universe seems to be in the business of proving him wrong today.

“Roger that, ma’am. We’ll get them out of your hair by dinnertime,” Mark says, confidence surging in his chest despite dinnertime being less than two hours away. The corners of Mayor Zhou’s lips twitch, the ghost of a smile dancing on her lips.

“Shanghai’s waited centuries for this moment, Captain,” Mayor Zhou hums. “Please, don’t strain yourselves more than you have to. Dream is the cast of heroes the world has waited much too long to find, and I’d like to keep you all in employment for a little while longer.”

“Oh, no, don’t worry, ma’am,” Mark says, shaking his head. He looks back up at Mayor Zhou with determination in his eyes. Determination to prove himself. Determination to not the people he loves down. Determination to get this right .

“We’re not going anywhere .”

“You know, this wasn’t what I had in mind when I told you I was going to take you out on a date,” Donghyuck grumbles, assembling a makeshift grenade with spare parts from his tool belt before throwing it to Mark. Mark throws him a grin, catching the grenade and pulling out the trigger with his teeth.

“I’ll have to take you on a make-up one next Tuesday, then,” Mark hums, before tossing it into a portal and up to the cockpit of a giant mecha robot. Nightmare seems to have gone all out mechanoid this time, favouring straight out brawn over guile and deceit. They must’ve reasoned that an army of Shanghai’s underworld’s best criminals would be enough to best Dream.

But they haven’t made it this far just to lose like that .

The grenade goes off with a deafening boom, blasting the mecha to bits. Donghyuck slides in front of Mark, holding up a holoshield to block off the impact and absorb the remaining kinetic energy into a small black sphere. He then turns back to Mark with a grin.

“It’s a date.”

“ Will you two just stop flirting for two fucking seconds ?!” Chenle yells over the intercom. Donghyuck rolls his eyes, giving Mark one last pointed look for running off towards the next mecha. Mark chuckles, running his fingers through his hair as he refocuses on the scene at hand.

They’re smack dab in the middle of Nanjing Boulevard, whose usual stream of shoppers has been replaced with a line of broken mecha suits and more incoming every second. From what Jisung’s earlier aerial scan tells them, there’s something big at the end of the road, terrorizing the locals and waiting for Dream to walk straight into its clutch. If Mark quints hard enough, he can almost make out its vague outline, a couple of streets down from their current defensive positioning in Century Square.

But between them and the giant thing is a near armada of mechanized killing machines, none of which have the intention to let them just walk past willy nilly.

“Jisung! Chenle!” Mark calls into the comms. “Clear us a path towards the river!”

“ Roger that! ” Jisung calls back at the same time Chenle yells ‘what do you think we’ve been doing?!’. Despite the mild argument, Jisung and Chenle practically materialize in front of him, ready to blast. Mark draws his bow, eyeing a pair of mechas trying to approach and ruin their attack. As he portals off to take care of them, a loud sonic boom nearly blasts his ears off.

Jisung shoots forwards with the force of Chenle’s blast, shrinking down and leaping onto the approaching mechas. Mark can’t see him anymore, but judging by the rate of robot mechas suddenly shrinking down to toy size to be blasted away by Chenle’s blast, he’s down there doing some world class heavy lifting.

The blast of energy carries down a couple of blocks before Jisung runs out of steam, returning to normal size to stagger for a moment. A particularly lucky mecha greets him at the end of his path, raising its arm to swing down at him. Mark flinches, about to leap into action when he hears a loud scream on his side. Whipping his head around, Mark can see a group of civilians trying to avoid a falling depowered mecha, although a few are rooted in place. He grits his teeth. Mark can’t make it to both in time.

At least, not by himself.

“Chenle!” Mark yells, hoping he gets the message. Chenle runs forwards, towards Jisung with blinding speed. Mark holds out his hand, closing the distance with a pair of portals before dashing off to save the civilians. He fights the urge to look back and check on them, despite his every instinct screaming for Mark to protect them.

He’s gotta trust them. They’re a team, after all, and team members trust one another.

Mark barely slides in between the civilian and the mech in time to draw an explosive arrow and blast the thing into two, letting it fall out of the way harmlessly. He turns around to the civilians.

“Are you alright? Is anyone hurt?” Mark asks. There’s three girls in front of him, barely about teenage age, all terrified out of their minds. One of them swallows, before stepping aside to gesture behind them. There’s another girl on the ground, clutching her leg with tears brimming in her eyes. Blood oozes everywhere on the ground, and Mark can only imagine what this mecha must’ve been trying to do.

His brain begins to run a million miles an hour. He needs to get them out, but given the state of this girl, he’s not sure she’ll be able to survive a portal trip. Despite it being mostly harmless, the vertigo alone might cause serious damage. Injured bodies aren’t typically recommended for crossing the borders of reality, after all.

Then, a light bulb goes off in his head.

“Jaemin!” Mark calls, turning around to search for Jaemin. He spots a blast of red Volos energy go off nearby, and Jaemin rises out of the corpse of a giant hunk of metal seconds later. He looks over to Mark’s location with wide eyes, sprinting over hurriedly.

“Get them back into travel shape. There should be ambulances arriving back in the square soon,” Mark instructs, earning a nod from Jaemin. He begins to leave, before pausing in hesitance. Turning around, Mark gives Jaemin a warning look.

“Don’t strain yourself.”

Jaemin rolls his eyes, applying his hand over the girl’s broken leg and beginning to glow faintly. “Yes, dad . Now go, they need you up there!”

Mark shoots him an exasperated grin, before snapping back into serious mode and portalling to the front lines. He arrives just in time to duck under a flying robot arm, followed by the sight of Chenle sticking his arm into the mecha’s wires and blasting it to pieces from the inside. Mark thrusts his palms out, barely managing to squeeze in enough portals to stop the pieces from flying everywhere and becoming potential casualties. As the mecha collapses with Chenle and the pilot, Mark barely catches the mecha pilot fumbling for a small blaster on his waist. He widens his eyes, gritting his teeth.

“Chenle!” Mark yells. Chenle turns to him, ready to refute a scolding as Mark draws his bow. With a quick shot, Mark pierces the blaster out of the pilot’s hand, eliciting a yelp from him. Chenle turns around to the pilot with surprise, before blasting him away and into a building. Chenle lands safely onto the ground, although a stray breeze blows his bangs into his eyes to ruin the cool effect.

“Thanks for the save,” Chenle grins. From his side, Renjun and Donghyuck slide in on a sawed off robot arm, seemingly having taken the explosives-powered air express. Jeno flies overhead on the back of a bird-like mechanoid, although one of its wings is missing and Jeno is currently driving it like a sled down an avalanche. Mark frowns, taking a mental headcount. Four members present, Jaemin taking care of the civilian, and himself, which leaves… 

“Where’s Ji—”

As if on cue, a loud, robotic hum booms through the air. Mark startles, nearly losing his balance as the ground under his feet seemingly begins to shake. He whips his head towards the source of the sound, jaw dropping open.

A massive mecha stands in front of him, towering over Shanghai and barely fitting one of its legs in the street. A large shadow begins to approach them, with the setting sun shining behind the mecha like some kind of halo of imminent death. Giant revolving blasters mount the arms of the mecha, with massive rocket launchers on its shoulders. A sadistic, almost stomach curdling glass torture box shape is installed into the mecha’s chest, filled with knocked out civilians. Mark can’t even begin to fathom how many hostages there could be on Death’s bed.

Or, realistically, already past the point of no return.

“ Good morning Shanghai! ” A loud, delirious voice yells, and a shiver runs down Mark’s spine. He recognizes that voice. Has spent months receiving orders from that voice, before a recent arrest.

“Director Li,” Mark breathes, incredulous. Jeno frowns.

“Isn’t she behind bars?” he growls, swinging his spear into a ready stance. Mark sighs.

“I feel like you could say that for ninety percent of the people we’ve seen today,” Mark mutters.

Chenle hardens his gaze, taking a step forward and cupping his hands around his mouth.

“Hey!” Chenle yells, voice booming upwards. “Did they get tired of your bitchiness in prison, Director of Annoyance?!”

The mecha seemingly recoils in mild anger.

“ You ,” Ex-Director Li seethes. Chenle grins widely.

“Us,” he agrees. “What are you gonna do, shoot us ?!”

The mecha doesn’t answer, only beginning to aim its blaster arms down at them. Jeno sighs.

“You had to ask,” he deadpans.

The mecha begins to open fire, drilling into the street with bullets. Mark leaps into the air and portals out of the way as the others follow, bodies kicking back into motion.

“We need to get the hostages out!” Mark yells.

“ And how do you suggest we get the stupid thing to stay still for long enough to do that, boss ?!” Chenle calls back. Mark grits his teeth, landing on a nearby rooftop to rack his brain. If there was only some way they can momentarily stun or paralyze—

Slam!

A giant, four hundred feet tall Jisung crashes into the mecha, sending it staggering backwards. Mark’s jaw drops open as he watches Jisung grab onto the mecha’s arm, forcing its blasters upwards before snapping off the arms in one massive rip. They struggle for a few seconds, ramming into a nearby (hopefully empty) building as Jisung holds the mecha in place.

“ Well, that certainly works, ” Chenle mutters. Mark laughs, hope and pride swelling in his chest. He’s really got the best team in the world, hasn’t he?

“Time to get to work, fellas. Donghyuck, Chenle, get the hostages. Jeno, Renjun, be on standby for my signal,” Mark rattles off orders, ready to leap back into action.

“ What about me? ” Jaemin cuts in, and Mark whirls his head down to see Jaemin catching up to them. He shoots him a grin.

“I’ll need you with Donghyuck and Chenle, doc!” Mark calls. “We got hostages, no idea of their status.”

Jaemin sighs. “ So, a regular Thursday afternoon, then. Portal me up! ”

Mark nods, beginning to orchestrate the attack. Jisung continues to pin the mech to a nearby half smashed row of buildings as Mark portals Donghyuck and Chenle to the mech’s hostage box.

Donghyuck begins to get to work, pulling out a series of black orbs and tossing them at the glass to take it off without shattering the glass. The glass pane falls to the ground with a soft thump, and Chenle and Jaemin begin sifting through the hostages for injured personnel.

They begin to file through Mark’s portals, ending safely back on the ground as far away as Mark can muster. His arms begin to burn with strain, his Volos beginning to reach stages of overuse as black spots begin to dance in his vision. His earlier almost-drowning session hadn’t helped, the mild waterlog in his inner ear starting to creep back into Mark’s senses. He doesn’t have long.

“ You will not win! ” Ex-Director Li screams, and the mecha’s shoulder mounted rockets begin to flare to life. Mark grits his teeth. He had hoped for a little more time to recover, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

“Renjun, Jeno, now !” Mark signals, slashing his palm down to open another couple dozen portals around the mecha. Renjun and Jeno’s figure descends from above, mildly resembling a pair of falling angels as the mecha’s rockets begin to fire.

“Jisung, get out of there!” Mark yells. Jisung nods, shrinking down and away as the rockets leave their holster. With a guttural scream, Mark begins to close in on the portals, teleporting the rockets out of city range and up towards Renjun and Jeno, giving them one more massive act of trust.

And they don’t disappoint.

In an almost hauntingly beautiful flurry of blade and spear-work, silver dances in tandem with the red rockets as they’re chained into each other. Orange sunlight bounces off of Renjun and Jeno’s weapons as they practically dance through the air, always mere inches away from explosions ringing over their heads.

Mark strains to see them, knees beginning to give out as he falls to the ground. Black spots dance in his vision as Mark tries to grip onto a nearby railing to keep himself upright. The strain of overusing his Volos is beginning to seep in, and coupled with the exhaustion these last few months that have been building up, to say Mark is out of shape for this fight would be an understatement.

But the thing is, he’s not alone in this fight.

In fact, he never has been. It’s only ever been his own shortsightedness and hero complex that stopped him from doing the number one thing a leader is supposed to do: Trust the team.

And while sure, they had a rocky start, but Mark couldn't dream of placing his full trust in any other team in the world. They’ve seen the best and the worst of each other, have grown tired of each other's bullshit but fond of some at the same time. Where many thought they’d eventually kill each other in their sleep, Dream had grown to accept and help one another, because no one can ever do everything on their own.

I want to help you, dumbass. We all do .

Mark can’t help but smile to himself, heart overflowing with pride and fondness. He may be on the brink of passing out, but nothing in the world could ever make him stop believing in Dream now. They’re a team, and Mark would let them go to the world's end for him.

Because trust is handing someone the dagger and knowing they can complete the job you never could do alone.

“I love you guys,” Mark whispers into the comms, although it’s probably drowned out in the boom of the explosions overhead. One of them gets the last strike and deflect on the final flare of a dozen rockets, sending it straight into the mecha’s cockpit in a massive explosion. It explodes like a firework, painting the sky in beautiful steaks of red and orange as the world seemingly begins to glow.

They did it.

They’ve killed the stupid cockroaches.

The shockwave ripples through the air, knocking Mark backwards as he struggles to stay conscious. He opens and closes his hand, trying to summon Volos energy when he has none left to spare. He stares at the sky, watching as the explosions paint streaks of fire, ash and smoke. His breath becomes heavy and ragged, pain dancing a display of red and black in Mark’s nerves.

The ground underneath his feet begins to shake, but Mark doesn’t accept his possible death. Instead, he closes his eyes and inhales, blinking slowly.

When his eyelids open again, Donghyuck is in front of him, a soft smile and an outstretched hand extended in front of Mark’s face.

“My hero,” Mark teases, taking Donghyuck’s palm with a smile of his own. It’s strange how calm they are despite the entire nearby block beginning to crumble from the force of the explosion. But then again, Donghyuck just seems to have that effect on him.

“I love you too, Mark,” Donghyuck hums, pulling him closer with a firm grip on Mark’s palm. Before he can even register what’s happening, Donghyuck presses his lips up against Mark’s and the world explodes.

To put it simply, Donghyuck tastes like joy . He tastes like the happiness of a victory and the joy of knowing they’ve achieved the impossible. He tastes like the soothing comfort, a gentle ‘you did well’ and an insistent ‘you’re enough’. He tastes like home and adventure at the same time, a reminder of Seoul in the middle of Shanghai and Mark can’t help but feel homesick and exhilarated at the same time.

Tears pool at the corner of his eyes as Mark breaks the kiss for a choked sob. He loops his arm around Donghyuck’s shoulders, pulling him closer. He’s losing grip on reality now, exhaustion smacking him like a pile of bricks but he can’t stop crying , goddamnit , because Mark is just so goddamn happy .

“I think I’m gonna pass out,” Mark breathes, half joking as he tucks his head into Donghyuck’s hold. Donghyuck doesn’t laugh at him, only reaching up a hand to pat gently at his hair.

“Go ahead,” Donghyuck says, gentle with the ghost of a smile in his tone. “I’m not letting go of you anytime soon.”

Mark chokes on a sob, nodding quietly. He surrenders to the dull ache all over his body, darkness finally engulfing his vision as he falls limp into Donghyuck’s grip.

And this time, there’s not a single crease of worry holding him back from recovery.

The aftermath is... quiet, to say the least. Jisung tells him the city received them like heroes, cheering and chanting Dream’s name for nearly hours. The entirety of Shanghai seemingly had become a festival of sorts, everyone digging out booze and firecrackers to celebrate on the streets.

Mark has no idea how long their victory will last this time, given the amount of corruption that still surely runs rampant in the city. But if Nightmare ever decides to rear its ugly head again, Dream will be prepared.

As for Mark himself, he comes to a day later, having apparently been knocked out cold after the fight. Jaemin had to do some emergency Volos energy transplant to help make up for Mark’s massive deficiency after his stunt, and the doctor said he’s not allowed to do any kind of straining activity for at least the next two weeks.

At least he managed to be cleared out of the hospital a few hours after waking up, and not a moment too soon. The entire crew showed up on the day of his discharge, a neat and dry cleaned suit in one hand and beaming smiles all around. Mayor Zhou had arranged transportation for them, all the way to City Hall for the commemoration ceremony and... 

Well, Dream’s official clearance for operations in Shanghai and its surrounding areas.

“Congratulations, Captains,” Mayor Zhou smiles kindly, handing Jeno and Mark a large glass plaque that reads ‘Dream - Shanghai’s Superheroes’. Mark grins back at her in response, exhilarated.

“Thank you, ma’am,” Mark nods, before turning to the rest of his team. Chenle and Jisung are practically buzzing in excitement, massive lopsided grins on their features as they stare at the plaque with hungry eyes. Renjun and Jaemin are noticeably more passive, politely clapping but still happy regardless. Donghyuck stands the closest to the center of the stage, and, by extension, Mark. There’s an indecipherable look in his eyes, something between a mixture of pride, relief and joy at the same time.

Jeno turns to Dream, seemingly stopping himself from rolling his eyes. “Well, what are you guys waiting for, a red carpet? Come on,” Jeno calls out, just loud enough for Dream to catch wind of him. Everyone’s smiles widen, and Mark scoots over to make space. Renjun and Chenle end up squeezing him on both sides, both barely managing to get a hand onto the plaque.

“Over here!” a reporter yells, holding up a camera. Mark turns to the source of the sound, pleased to recognize the voice as he spots Sungchan in the crowd, holding his slightly outdated camera up and aiming it straight at Dream’s blinding smiles. Mark shoots him a large grin, heart practically thundering out of his ribcage. He can’t quite believe the giant flashing lights not spelling disaster, only a cause for celebration. People scream Dream’s name with excitement, the non-reporter crowd slowly beginning to start up a chant. The atmosphere is thick with energy and joy, a certain buzz to the air that Mark can’t help but fall in love with.

“We did it,” Mark whispers, tears prickling at the corner of his eyes. Jeno gives him a slight side-eye, still beaming from ear to ear.

“Yes. Yes, we did.”

That night, Mark comes back to base without a single regret.

“You guys get some rest,” Mark hums. “Let the city police handle patrol tonight. Sleep until noon if you want,” Mark says to the others, watching as Chenle whoops with excitement while Jaemin makes a beeline for the shower to skip the line. Mark laughs to himself, having long grown fond of their antics.

“And where do you think you’re heading, mister?” Donghyuck says, raising an eyebrow at Mark as he hangs back to keep an eye on him. “No work tonight for you, too.”

Mark laughs gently, shaking his head. “No work,” he agrees. “I’m just gonna give Taeyong hyung a call. He’s been bugging me to update him for ages. I’ll be straight off to bed afterwards, I promise.”

Donghyuck nods, flashing Mark one last smile before turning around. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then, Captain,” he hums.

“Good night, Duckie,” Mark bids, before turning to head for the control room.

It’s strangely cold tonight, as if the two days of no use has left the place like a ghost town. Even then, the room is somewhat akin to home for Mark these days. The comfortable, droning hums of monitors and computers working away to keep track of the alien monolith and crime reports in Shanghai. The dim blue light from the holo screens, painting the room in its usual comforting sea blue.

Even the stars outside are a welcome sight, as if every being in the world was celebrating tonight. As if they had all been holding their breath for the past seven months, waiting and anticipating the next chapter of Dream’s story.

And now… well, Mark would like to think it’s just the beginning, but he can’t help but feel as if a massive chapter of his life had just passed. The last time he felt this… was actually only seven months ago.

It’s strange how quickly time passes when he’s not paying attention.

Mark’s gaze drifts to the photos on his desk, the shot of him with 127 and 127 by themselves, and suddenly Mark doesn’t feel quite so homesick anymore. Sure, he’s a few hours of flight away from his old family, but the new one he’s found here is more than enough solace. He still misses his friends in Seoul like hell , but it’s no longer quite so omnipresent on his every free thought. Mark’s found home again, even if it’s in a completely different setting.

With a sigh, Mark pulls in his office chair, exhaustion slowly creeping up as sleep tries to pull him into its warm embrace. He rubs at his eyes gently, yawning silently as he checks the time. Only 11 PM in Seoul. With luck, Taeyong will still be chipping away at his mountain of work, although there’s a high chance Yuta’s dragged him off to bed too. Still, it’s worth a try.

Mark picks up his holopad, dialing Taeyong’s personal number and sending a silent prayer that his phone hadn’t accidentally ended up in the bottom of the recycling bin again.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

Click.

“ The man, the myth, the legend himself, ” Taeyong hums in lieu of a greeting, although Mark can practically hear his smile over the line. “ Someone seems to be alive. ”

Mark chuckles, reclining on his chair as he stares off into a distance. “I miss you too, hyung. Hope things aren’t as boring without me up there,” Mark muses. Taeyong laughs softly.

“ I think Jungwoo’s taken over your daily quota for trouble. Some new bigshot’s risen up to take Donghyuck’s place within the anti heroes’ ranks too, and I don’t think we can flirt our way out of this one like you have. ”

“You know for a fact I didn’t get along with Donghyuck until like halfway through my time here,” Mark argues. Taeyong makes a dismissive noise.

“Details,” he says passively. “How are you two, by the way? I feel like I haven’t heard from you in ages. I mean, I had to find out you beat up a giant robot two days ago from the news, Mark.”

Mark winces, unable to stop the tiny trickle of guilt that drips into his guts. “Well, to be fair, I was kind of knocked out until, like, this morning,” Mark points out.

Taeyong sighs, half exasperated but not quite surprised. “Honestly, I don’t expect any less,” Taeyong deadpans. “You really need to take a break, Mark.”

“That’s rich, coming from you, but yeah, I got it. Don’t worry, I think I overheard my members starting to develop schedule of dragging me out every few days. Renjun’s even talking about trying to hack into the main console to literally force me to stop,” Mark jokes. Taeyong snorts.

“Don’t tell Taeil or Jungwoo about that idea,” Taeyong replies. “Doyoung would have my head on a silver platter.”

“Oh! Speaking of that, how are you guys holding up over there? Has Jungwoo finally caved in and tried out that new restaurant he was texting me about?”

“You know he can’t resist good food. Put on like five pounds in three days from trying out the place’s entire menu. You obviously weren’t there but I took a few before and after pics and…”

They fall into an easy pattern from there. Mark asks about 127 and life in Seoul, simultaneously pleased and slightly disappointed that nothing new’s happened since Taeyong’s last visit. Taeyong interrogates him about Dream, eventually digging out the news of Mark and Donghyuck’s newfound relationship and spending the next twenty minutes gushing about it.

Even Taeil drops in at one point, eager to talk to Mark again and ask about his ‘favourite dongsaeng’ (who Mark is mildly fake hurt because the favourite dongsaeng is, in fact, not him and somehow Donghyuck , instead).

The thing is, Mark doesn’t feel so sad anymore. Sure, the dull ache of homesickness and mild FOMO tugs at him like an insistent puppy, but Mark’s found himself unable to imagine ever going back and just leaving Dream like that. Family doesn’t have to all be in the same place, and Mark is more than okay with being left with only semi-regular calls with his old one. He’s content here. Happy. Fulfilled.

Complete .

Mark ends up falling asleep halfway through Taeyong recounting a story about how Jaehyun tried to eat tteokbokki with his nose in order to win a stupid bet with Jungwoo.

He doesn’t hear Taeyong’s fond chuckle once he realizes Mark’s fallen asleep, nor does he hear the door crack open softly. He doesn’t even register Donghyuck peer over to his call to apologize to Taeyong, neither does he hear Taeyong’s soft coos to meet ‘Mark’s cute new-but-not-really boyfriend’, but he does register Donghyuck ending the call and slowly shaking him awake.

“Go sleep in your bed, Captain,” Donghyuck whispers, mildly exasperated. “The desk isn’t meant for your cute giant head.”

Mark mumbles something unintelligible, even to his own, sleep addled brain. Donghyuck seems to have somehow caught it though, chuckling softly.

“You’re pretty too, hyung. Come on, I’ll cuddle you if you’re up for that kind of thing right now.”

And who is Mark to refuse that ?

(Mark doesn’t think he’s ever slept that peacefully before. Maybe it has something to do with the soothing content in his chest, finally surrounded by nothing but love, happiness and safety.)

(He chooses to ignore the explosion that goes off the next morning, presumably just Chenle or Jaemin breaking the coffee pot again.)